Critical Appraisal Of Descriptive Design Study  

This worksheet is a representation of critical appraisal of the article “anger, stress, stress and blood pressure in overweight children”. This work describes in depth what the research study was conducted and if the methods used were valid.

Appraisal guide comments

Are methods valid/ trustworthy?

Was the research question clear? Was the need for the study adequately substantiated? Explain. The research questions are clear because they are touching on the topic of research which is “Anger, stress, stress and blood pressure in overweight children”. By the researcher answering them at the ended of the research study, the objectives of the study could have been attained. Additionally, the study questions being three, they exhaustively address the topic of study. The need for the study is adequately substantiated in that children of age 9-11 were involved in the research study. The need was to find out the relationship between anger trait and BP among overweight children. Of which is conducted in this study.

What was the design of the study? How were the data collected(one time(cross-sectional or repeated over time (longitudinal)? What were the limitations of the data collection methods The research study was designed to use a secondary method of data collection and analysis. Secondary data on the influence of psychological variables on BP in children of 9-11 years old were extracted from BMI. Data was extracted for children whose BMI was greater than or equal to the 85th percentile of the ratio in Kg to the height in meters squared. Data collection was longitudinal whereby it was collected repeatedly over time. The limitations suffered due to the usage of this method of data collection is lack of consistence in information concerning the relationship between BP and the associated anger expression in overweight children.

Describe the sample. How was the sample selected(eligibility criteria)? How is the sample representative of the group? The original study sample was extracted from eight elementary schools in two southeastern states and consisted of overweight children who had met the criteria of being 9-11 years of age. The sample was able to read and write in English, have parental consent and having accent to participate. From the original sample, only 73 cases met BMI criteria and had complete data. 73 cases are not the whole group but represent a portion of a larger group.

Describe the variables of interest. If there was, a comparison group, on what variables was the groups compared?. How were the groups similar? How were the groups different? If it were a correlation study, on what variables are associations being examined? Were there any confounding variables? The variables of interest were stress, trait anger, anger-out, anger reflection, anger suspension, stressful events, SBP and DBP. The groups could be compared over the first five variables against overweight and associations with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. The groups were similar by the fact that the samples were both overweight children of age between 9-11 subject to conditions of life. The groups were different in because of gender, the groups comprised of both male and female school-aged children despite their having different anger levels. If it were a correlation study the associations could be examined by Pearson’s correlations. Yes, in the groups as a whole, significant correlation were noted between SBP bad trait anger. SBP was associated with higher levels of trait anger. And none of the psychological variables were associated with DBP in the whole group.

Was the sample size large enough to detect statistically significant association or difference? Was a power analysis performed? The sample size was not large enough to be able to detect statistical significant associations. It was a small representation of a very large group and thus a power analysis could not be possible.

Were there any potential sources of bias? Yes, there existed potential sources of bias, during analysis, females who were chosen fo the research were many than male. There were 44 female and only 29 male. Also some races were miss-represented in the participation. 38 were black, 31 were whites, 1 was Asian and 3 were other races /ethnicity. There was no equal distribution in participation.

Describe the reliability and validity of the measures. Were the measures appropriate for the population or the variable being studied? explain Measures this research involved collection of the information concerning the variables under investigation. Height ,weight, trait anger, pattern of anger expressions, stress BP and demographic data. The way this data was collected was reliable and valid. Collecting the data from classroom libraries or gymnasiums during free times proves its validity and reliability.

Were the analysis plans (statistical methods) described in detail? How were the data distributed(e.g. normal vs. skewed)?were comparative and correlative tests appropriate for the type of data analyzed and the questions asked? explain Statistical methods of data analysis were not described in detail but a good portion of the information was provided. Data was distributed In a normal way where means, standard deviation, variance and all statistical relationships were used to relate the data being analyzed. The analysis was purely a normal distribution. Comparative and correlative analyses were appropriate with the king of data were are dealing with the research. Female participates had to be compared with male participants and also female with female and male to male had to be correlated. Over the variables under investigation.

What were the findings? Relatively high level of trait anger, comparable levels of anger out and anger suppression stress were found in study participants in comparison with norms. Males and females had no significant difference on any of the variables under investigation that conflicts findings from other studies. Differential, patterns of anger expressions were found to be of no significance. Studies with normal weight school aged children, high-level of anger reflection/control were noted in females than males. Gender and stress had no significant differences. Findings that involved bivariate relationships between BP readings and psychological variables reveals that participants with higher trait anger had higher SBP levels. These findings were true for female with nornoweight and overweigh adolescents.

Was there clinical significance? Statistical significance? There was no clinical significance because some findings were inconsistent with earlier research studies on the sane variable. This need more research to be conducted so that the findings can have clinical significance. There is statistical significance because the data corrected was analyzed well and it corresponded with the hypothesis of the research.

Did the authors put their findings in the context of the topic? explain The authors clearly put the findings in the context of the topic. They explained well the relationship between psychological variables under study and BP. and overweight and the related SBP and DBP among children 9-11 years.

What relevance do the findings have to the nursing practice? The findings can help the nurse to know how to take care of the infants/children by linking their behavior and associated disorders like BP. They can also help the nurse to advice the patients the effects of overweight to the body and how the effect of overweight can be overcome

Discuss how the findings can be applied to practice. The findings will help healthcare providers to assess the trait anger, patterns of anger expression, and stress in relation to BP in children. They will also help healthcare professional to device ways of reducing overweight and anger in overweight children as a way of preventing future manifestations of chronic BP, hypertension, or other cardiac events in adult hood.

Finding will help health care practitioners to measure BP elevations in children which are linked to hypertension and provide early medical intervention to stop such elevations.